The 24 athletes who will take to the ring in the finals of the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in Niš, took part in the official weigh-in ceremony on the eve of their momentous matches at the Čair Sports Center.

It was the first time some of these boxers had met face-to-face, before their last bouts of the IBA World Championships. Two boxers who met less than a year ago in the European Boxing Championships final are Russia’s Anastasiia Shamonova and Ireland’s Aoife O’Rourke, who will fight for 75kg gold. Thailand’s Thananya Somnuek is in the 63kg final against the Asian champion, Aida Abikeyeva of Kazakhstan. On her way to gold, Abikeyeva defeated Somnuek in Chiang Mai by a split decision in December 2024.

There was almost a rematch of the 66kg European final between 2022 World champion Busenaz Surmeneli of Türkiye and Albina Moldazhanova too, but the Russian lost out to Navbakhor Khamidova of Uzbekistan, who has guaranteed her country’s best-ever result by making the gold-medal match with Surmeneli.

Surmeneli is one of four Turkish boxers vying for gold, with her fellow 2022 World champions Buse Naz Cakiroglu and Hatice Akbas looking to claim another title. The calculated Cakiroglu faces Pang Chol Mi of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the 52kg final, while Akbas looks to defeat Widad Bertal of Morocco in the 54kg weight category. Their other hope comes from Busra Isildar, who faces the impressive Saltanat Medenova of Russia at 81kg.

Serbia’s sole hope for gold is Andjela Brankovic of Serbia, who meets Asian champion Punrawee Ruenros of Thailand in the 57kg final. Other Asian champions in the finals are Viktoriya Grafeyeva of Kazakhstan, who fights Russian Nune Asatrian at 60kg; and Kazakhstan’s Yeldana Talipova, whose +81kg opponent is China’s Zhan Yilian.

More World champions will be hoping to add to their trophy cabinet as Ireland’s Lisa O’Rourke takes on European champion Elena Gapeshina of Russia for the 70kg crown. Nazym Kyzaibay of Kazakhstan is seeking a third World gold as she takes on Iuliia Chumgalakova of Russia at 48kg. Kyzaibay’s teammate from Kazakhstan, Alua Balkibekova, is seeking her first World title after previously winning silver and bronze.

A total of 10 nations are represented in the finals.

Prior to the weigh-in, the IBA held a prize money ceremony for all fifth-place finishers, who were eliminated at the quarter-final stage. In recognition of their achievements, each boxer received $10,000. Bronze medallists will receive $25,000, while tomorrow’s runners-up take home $50,000 and the champions will win $100,000.

A total of 23 teams from all five Confederations received prize money in the quarter-final stage. In total, there are 96 boxers from 25 teams who will receive prize money between gold, silver, bronze and fifth-place finishes.

IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships 2025 is live-streamed fully on the IBA YouTube channel. All draws, schedules and results are available on IBA website. Photos can be found on IBA Flickr channel.

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Media contacts:

Elena Sobol, Head of Communications and PR, International Boxing Association: elena.sobol@iba.sport

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